


Coercion

by JokesterWrites



Series: Entwined [1]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Escaping Indian Hill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 11:04:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5663887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JokesterWrites/pseuds/JokesterWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oswald Cobblepot has been taken to Indian Hill. Victor recruits help to aid in a escape.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coercion

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure what I want to do with this. But the muse grabbed me and I ended up writing all this...

Gabe was troubled. He had received word that his boss, Mr. Cobblepot, had not returned from a meeting with Mr. Hugo Strange as scheduled. As per his boss’s parting orders, he called Victor to check the last known location. In the late hours of the evening he heard back.

“Yeah, there’s been a struggle here. Two guys dead. The Boss is gone. Few complications, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I got someone to talk. Apparently this Dr. Strange has taken the Boss to Indian Hill.”

Gabe was silent for a moment, processing the information. Indian Hill was a toxic waste dump…. why would they take him there? 

“Victor, return to the mansion. We’ll need to figure out a plan.”

“Do you mind if I bring someone along? I have a feeling we’re going to need help.” Victor commented, glancing down at the man cowering at his feet. Receiving affirmation from Gabe, Victor snapped his phone shut and carefully tucked it away in his jacket.

“Please! I don’t know anything else. I’ve never even been to Indian Hill.” The man pleaded.

Victor just tilted his head, studying the sincerity of the man. “Oh I believe you.” He reassured calmly, before raising his gun to shot him clean between the eyes. “I have someone else in mind.” He turned away, rolling back his sleeve to cut the new tally into his skin.

x.x.

Victor carefully broke the glass pane on the door to reach in and flick the lock open. He hoped the noise wouldn’t arouse too much suspicion, though if he knew the occupant as well as he thought he did, she would already be aware of his presence. 

The door swung open soundlessly on well oiled hinges. Victor sidestepped the broken glass on the old linoleum floor making his way through the kitchen. The light flicked on.

“You have heard of knocking, haven’t you?” a sharp sarcastic woman’s voice rang through the air.

“Nina,” Victor turned to great her cordially. “I know you’d refuse to answer it.”

She was standing in the doorway, her dark hair tossed into a messy bun on top of her head, wearing a pair of sweatpants rolled up at the bottom around her ankles and a tank top. He took note that her feet were bare and she appeared to have been sleeping recently. However, her eyes were sharp and calculating, while the gun in her hand was steadily aimed at him.

“Well then you know my answer to whatever you’re going to ask me. You can show yourself out.” She motioned to the door with her gun, and he took that moment of distraction to pounce. A shot embedded itself into her wall. He had the advantage of both height and weight over her, but she was quick and nimble. As they tumbled and rolled, each fighting for the upper hand, he was able to disarm her, letting her gun slide across the floor.Victor thought he had her pinned, but he forgot she fought dirty. He grunted as she bit his hand that was wrapped around her mouth.

“You’re always so rude Ms. Cadwell” Victor commented, wrestling his hold on her until she was flipped, face pressed to the floor, and he had her arms pinned against her back. 

“Yeah well you’ve gotten fat.” She puffed irritatedly, her voice muffled by the floor. He ignored her comment.

“I need you to extract someone.” He could feel her grumbling intelligibly underneath him, and he sighed in annoyance. “My employer will pay you well.”

He waited patiently before a resigned, “Fine,” came out of the woman beneath him. He rolled off of her and back onto his feet. She on the other hand got up slowly, rubbing her arms and brushing herself off.

“Who am I extracting,” Nina undid her bun and ran a hand through her hair, “and where from?”

Victor’s expression remained stoic. “The Penguin has been taken to Indian Hill.”

She paled before a fierce glare grew on her face. “I hate you.”

x.x

Nina found herself in the Penguin’s mansion in the early hours of the morning, escorted by Victor. She was quickly briefed by both Gabe and Victor as to everything they knew. 

“It won’t be easy.Indian Hill is… well it’s not what it appears to be.” Nina tried to explain, “It might look like a waste dump, but it’s far from it. The lower levels are a completely different story. It’s an experiment lab. So in all honesty, I’d say the Penguin is probably done for in Indian Hill. If it was Arkham on the other hand…” She shrugged, “Arkham is a piece of cake.”

“Victor says you’re one of the best in Gotham. You don’t think you can do this?” Gabe asked quietly, his hand stroking over the hilt of his gun.

Nina eyed his motions, and sighed, resigned to the fact she would have to accept this offer.

“I’ve been in there before. I escaped by sheer luck. This time I’ll need blueprints, and information about their security. I won’t go in there blind. I’ll also need someone to get me in.”

Gabe glanced over at Victor, who smiled. “Easy.”

x.x

“This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I said I needed to get in there.” She snapped at him, staring at the body bag. Victor motioned for her to get in. Nina wrinkled her nose in distaste before clambering in. She’d changed into some street clothes, the tools of her trade hidden within pockets on her person.

“Don’t complain. Could be worse.” Victor passed her a pill and a cup of water. “Ready?” 

“This is as good as it’s going to get.” She replied grimly, swallowing the pill and gulping down the water. Time to go under. The pill would knock her out for an hour. Enough time to drive her body to Indian Hill and get it inside. Once in, she would wake and her mission would star. Locate Cobblepot and get him out. 

Her eyes fluttered closed and Victor checked her pulse, it had slowed to barely readable. He zipped the bag up quickly and motioned for the driver to go. There wasn’t much time.

x.x

Sound blurred in and out through her mind. She was catching bits and pieces of the conversations around her as she shrugged to regain control of her conscious. There was some panic swelling up in her chest as she realized that she had returned to the scientist’s lair. She could still recall what she went through last time. The tests… the experiments.

“She’s barely alive. But she’ll do. Put her in the X wing with the other breathers. It’s good to have you back Nina Cadwell.” the woman’s voice was harsh, judgmental to a fault. Nina wanted to frown but she couldn’t control her muscles yet. Breathers? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

She found out later as they propped her on a stretcher. Her eyes barely opened, and she could see blurred shapes around her. When her vision cleared, she realized they were bodies. People laid out on stretchers, waiting for something to happen to them. 

The IV feeding into her body was never connected properly so Nina only had to fight her way through the sluggish effects of the drug she took. She made a quick survey of the room to ensure no one was watching before ripping the needle out. No cameras either. Though who needs cameras when everything in the room appears to be in a coma?

Nina slipped down and slunk to the exit, her body tensing at every little sound. Cobblepot, assuming he was alive, would be in Strange’s laboratory. She’d been there once. He’d dismissed her, deciding that her skill sets weren’t useful enough for the monsters he wanted to create. She was a professional safe cracker, who kept a side business in the underbelly of Gotham. 

Victor would arrange for a distraction. It should arrive at any moment. There! The overhead lighting shut off, leaving only the emergency spot lights to guide her way. Nina slidded into one of the staff locker rooms and quickly spun her way through the combination lock. She had a wary eye out for anyone coming her way. She glanced at the ID badge inside. No good. She couldn’t pass herself off as a 6’3 man. It took two more tries before she found one that had a lab coat and ID badge that looked similar enough. She would need it to get into the secure zones.

As she slipped out into the hallway, she realized that there was a state of panic happening. Staff were hurrying up and down the hall, some wheeling patients, others were moving equipment. 

Red lights were flashing. The fire alarms had been set off.

Shit. This was more of a distraction then what was needed.

"You there!" Nina's head snapped up in a panic when she realized a man was addressing her, "Come help me. There is a special patient that need to be moved on priority."

"Um yes Sir." She hurried over, following him through the building. "Who are we moving?" She asked, hoping that where they were going, she would find Cobblepot.

"The Penguin."

Nina thanked whatever luck was on her side that day. This would save a great deal of time. 

x.x

Oswald Cobblepot was very much drugged up. They had him stripped down to his trousers, leads attached to his chest monitoring vitals, with a IV in the crook of his arm. His eyes were closed, a pained expression on his face despite the reassurance that he was not conscious. Straps held his body to the gurney and the man began to undo the leads attached to Cobblepot, preparing him for transport.

"So what's the quickest way to get this stiff out?" Nina asked casually, glancing around the med room. It looked like they were preparing for surgery based on the equipment on the tables. She inwardly cringed at the thought, her fingers casually flipping through the file on Cobblepot. Were those…. flippers?

"We'll take the north exit. Just down the hallway and to the right. We can bypass the craziness out there. Apparently there was a fire in lab 9 on the west side, so we'll avoid that. I’ll get the door. It doesn’t look like you’re cleared for the west side wing. They won’t have your fingerprints scanned in yet."

"Good plan." Nina pocketed one of the scalpels inconspicuously, "What were they going to do with him?" She attached the file to the clipboard on the end of the bed.

The man looked at her sharply. "It's above your paygrade." he returned to removing the last of the leads. "We're good to go now." 

Nina sighed. "Thank you." She slipped behind him and drew the sharp blade across the man's throat. "Sorry about this. But you have something I need."

His hands reached up to his throat in shock, attempting to stifle the spurts of blood that sprayed across. He gurgled one last time as he slumped to the floor. While waiting for him to die, Nina ripped out the IV, knowing the drug keeping Cobblepot under would subside.

She grabbed the employee's access pass and his gun, and sighed one more time. This is where things got messy. 

Nina left the room with Cobblepot still on the gurney, the man's sawed off hand placed beside him, and a sheet covering the odd ensemble. "What I do for you Victor," Nina muttered to herself, guiding the gurney down the hallway and to the right. She passed by glass room's where the other medical staff were moving people in tanks. "God it’s even more of a freakshow down here then last time.” Nina whispered, studying each body suspended tank as she went by, “I think I miss the days when it was just mob bosses fighting over turf.” She looked a little bit greener as she passed by a man who had been…. sewn together in pieces. Nina gulped, a cold sweat breaking out over her skin. Dr. Dalmaker’s work.

Best leave before anyone noticed that something was off. The last hallway was empty and she entered the elevator. She needed the man's hand to approve the request for the main floor. Only eight levels below the surface. Nina breathed a sigh of relief. Soon she'd have enough reception to signal Zsasz if needed. There was to be a vehicle waiting for them at the top. 

“Stay under a little bit longer, Cobblepot...” She pleaded, seeing his hand twitch. They reached the main floor and she wheeled him through, pressing her stolen pass to open another set of doors. Her pace quickening with the exit in sight. One of the guards by the entrance glanced between her and the computer he was maning.

"HEY YOU THERE! That’s not your authorization!" Nina broke into a run, praying that the final doors were not locked from the inside as she used the gurney as a battering ram against the doors. They gave way easily to the pressure and she ducked when she heard shots being fired.

"What-... what is going on?" The body under the sheet croaked out. His voice was disorientated.

"Shut up Cobblepot." Nina hissed, her feet pounding against the ground, She let off a few blind shots behind her while her eyes frantically searching for the promised vehicle. She found it.

It was a hearse. 

"Funny Victor." Nina muttered to herself, throwing the sheet off Oswald and dragging him to his shaking feet before stuffing him in the back. She grasped the clipboard before rushing to the driver’s side. Nina gunned the engine to life and peeled out of the lot. The guard trying to shoot her had run in her pathway. The bullet fractured the glass of the windshield and she cursed.

"Asshole." She yelled, spinning the wheel, aiming to run the guard over. He jumped out of the way at the very last minute.

"Who the hell are you?" Oswald was propping himself up in the back. "Why are we in a hearse?" He questioned, eyeing his surroundings with suspicion. She took a corner too sharp and he slid to the side banging his head against the window.

"Sorry." She apologised quickly, "I got hired by Victor Zsasz's employer to extract you from Indian Hill. From my understandings they were going to experiment on you Mr. Cobblepot."

"Well you're not particularly bright are you?” He snapped, “I am Mr. Zsasz's employer and I certainly don't recall hiring you. What's your name?"

Nina pressed down on the gas and growled, "Oh I'm going to kill him if I don't get paid for this job."

She took another turn into a parkade and stashed the hearse. It was too conspicuous and certainly didn’t offer the kind of speed they might need. Ahh yes… the Porsche would do nicely.

"The name's Nina Cadwell by the way." She commented breaking into a car and hotwiring the engine to life.

Oswald climbed out, his balance off and he used the vehicle to keep himself upright. "Do you do this often?" He motioned at her antics with the car.

"Sometimes. Though grand theft auto was more of a highschool gig. Now get in." 

Oswald grumbled something along the lines of 'no manners', but quickly took the back seat. The drive through the city was less fast paced as Nina took the opportunity to blend in with the current traffic.

"What did Strange want with you?" She asked, glancing in the mirror at him. He looked up at her, his expression guarded. "He was going to make me... stronger I guess. I can't recall all the details. Things are a bit... foggy."

"Stronger? This is Gotham. You can hire strength." Nina argued.

"Emotions can be a weakness." Oswald said quietly from the backseat. 

Silence filled the car as Nina processed what he meant. “You agreed to go under the knife to … remove emotions? You do know that’s not all they were going to do to you right?” she felt around on the seat beside her for the fle and tossed it over her shoulder at him.

He caught it clumsily, curious fingers rifling through. The first pages were normal enough. His bloodtype, age, weight…. until he got further along. There was an entire analysis on his personal life and habits, including his short temper. Comments regarding his family relations starting making his blood boil. Then there were diagrams…. surgeries that he had not agreed to. 

Oswald felt sick staring at them. They were going to make his hands look like penguin’s finns. They appeared to want to accentuate his already prominent nose into a beak like monstrosity.

Basically they would turn him into his own moniker. 

Oswald’s hands began to shake. Fury was rising within him at the thought that he almost became a visual monster to match the blackened soul within. “I will eradicate this Dr. Strange.”

“I don’t doubt it,” came the dry voice from the driver’s seat. Oswald’s eyes popped up to study her again. He supposed he ought to pay her whatever sum Victor had promised the woman. She had after all saved him. “I’ve got a few bones to pick with him as well. Unlike you, I didn’t volunteer.” 

Oswald paused, digesting this new information slowly. She had been in Indian Hill before. This meant she would be very useful.

**Author's Note:**

> Worth making into something more?


End file.
